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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  5. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  13. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. You don't need to ________________ round.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. It's one o'clock ________________.
  18. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  19. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  20. We're almost out of ________________.
  21. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  22. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  23. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. wave — with your hand
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. squash — to crush
  5. squash — the sport
  6. chest — of your body
  7. capital — money
  8. wave — a sudden rise
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. chest — of your body
  11. chest — a box
  12. drill — a practice
  13. wave — of the sea
  14. bat — the animal
  15. pop — to visit
  16. drill — the tool
  17. sharp — exactly
  18. sharp — with an edge
  19. pop — music
  20. pop — soda
  21. sharp — clever
  22. squash — the vegetable
  23. drill — army training
  24. bat — in an idiom

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com